Minarca Backup vs zrepl
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Minarca Backup | zrepl |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 31 · At risk | 70 · Good |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Python | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 263 | ★ 1,159 |
| First released | 2016 | 2017 |
| Replaces | CrashPlan, Veeam | Veeam |
What are Minarca Backup and zrepl?
Minarca Backup
Minarca is a centralized backup solution built on rdiff-backup that lets users back up multiple machines and restore their own files through a web interface. It is designed for organizations protecting many endpoints.
- Centralized endpoint backup
- Self-service restore
- rdiff-backup engine
- Web management
zrepl
zrepl is a one-stop solution for automated ZFS snapshot management and replication. It handles taking snapshots, pruning them per policy, and replicating datasets between machines with a simple daemon and configuration.
- Automatic ZFS snapshots
- Push and pull replication
- Flexible pruning policies
- Single daemon
Minarca Backup vs zrepl: key differences
Minarca Backup is written in Python, while zrepl is built with Go. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Minarca Backup versus MIT for zrepl. Zrepl is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Minarca Backup. Zrepl has the considerably larger community, at 1,159 GitHub stars versus 263. Minarca Backup lists first-class Docker deployment; zrepl does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Minarca Backup if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Python
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Choose zrepl if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (1.2k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Watch out for
- ZFS required
- YAML configuration
Frequently asked questions
Is Minarca Backup or zrepl better?
Neither is universally better. zrepl has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Minarca Backup and zrepl free and open-source?
Yes. Minarca Backup is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and zrepl under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Minarca Backup and zrepl with Docker?
Minarca Backup: yes. zrepl: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Minarca Backup or zrepl?
zrepl has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Minarca Backup. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.